


wish the mornings would just stay

by apollonian



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Post-Season/Series 03B, impractical acrobatics, mentions of other pack members
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-13 02:19:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7134632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollonian/pseuds/apollonian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kira had no previous knowledge of Derek’s long list of mistakes, had no expectations from him at all. Ever since that fateful meeting, when he’d told her that she was a kitsune and she had lit up in reply, knowing the word if not its entire meaning, she had cheerfully insinuated herself into his life.</p><p>Or: Kira and Derek, best bros.</p>
            </blockquote>





	wish the mornings would just stay

**Author's Note:**

> For [wolveshowlatnight](http://wolveshowlatnight.tumblr.com/)! Thanks for the prompt, I love Kira and Derek being bros so I took it a little further than just training, but I hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> Also, swingsetindecember's [Kira and Derek are bros rec list](http://swingsetindecember.tumblr.com/post/78034004174/jens-derek-and-kira-are-bros-fic-recs) was so useful while coming up with ideas for this, and it deserved a shout-out.

            Derek was never like Cora or Laura: they were both – sharp, eager to fight, able to take care of themselves and their family. They’d inherited that from his mother, the alpha instinct strong in them. Derek was softer, a bleeding heart, Peter used to call him, easily pushed about and deceived. His words had echoed in Derek’s head for years after the fire, and he’d retreated into himself. Laura hadn’t bothered him for a while, still struggling with the newfound power thrust upon her, but after a while, when they’d stopped in Maryland and then up in New York, she’d finally settled into herself, ready to be the alpha she’d always been trained to be. She had never pushed Derek beyond his limits, never questioned any of his decisions, but if she ever gave him a direct order, he knew he’d never disobey her.           

            Cora was the same, now, a better alpha than Derek had ever managed to be. She wasn’t quite like Laura, she was at home with the power from the early days _,_ and when she wanted something, she got it. Sometimes Derek would see Laura in her eyes, his mom in the set of her face, and his heart would twist in on itself and he’d just have to go give her a hug. If she ever complained, he’d always tell her that he was making up for the years and years of hugs he’d lost, and she’d shut up and hug him back. It always worked.

            Kira, though, Kira was different. She still had an edge in her, but it was tempered by her boundless optimism about anything and everything. She had no previous knowledge of Derek’s long list of mistakes, had no expectations from him at all. Ever since that fateful meeting, when he’d told her that she was a kitsune and she had lit up in reply, knowing the word if not its entire meaning, she had cheerfully insinuated herself into his life.

            “You’re the first person I’ve met who knows anything about this, other than my mom,” she told him, the first day she showed up at his loft unannounced.

            “Why don’t you ask her, then?” Derek asked, wary. The loft was still a mess from the nogitsune, the bricks still cracked from where it had thrown Derek into the wall. He’d been packing up the meager belongings he had, trying not to linger on the various blood-soaked memories that the loft contained. He kept his body pressed up next to the door, blocking Kira’s view of it.

            Kira shrugged. “She’s been training me, but right now her version of training involves a lot of tea and meditation. That’s interesting for a while, but I am really sick of the taste of tea, and I just. Since you knew what I was, I thought maybe you’d have some ideas for training that’s more – fun?”

            She looked up at him, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and Derek didn’t have the heart to tell her how he’d basically screwed up so many people’s lives before her, trying to train them to face the dangers that came with being a werewolf. Scott was just the beginning of the list, and he didn’t want to add Kira to the end of it. But her heartbeat was steady, no indication of a lie, and her expression was so open and beseeching that he had no choice but to give in.

            “Sure,” he said, and Kira beamed at him, the force of her happiness almost a physical thing. “Now?”

            “Um, yes? Unless you’re busy! In which case I can come back, you know, whenever’s good.”

            Derek resisted the urge to shrug, and said, “Well, I’m just packing some stuff up, so if you don’t mind waiting…”

            “No, of course not!” she said, smiling at him. “I can help out, too, just let me know what you need.”

            Derek stepped aside, remembering too late the state of the apartment, but Kira didn’t say a word, just quietly did whatever he asked her. Between them, the loft was cleared out in less than fifteen minutes, and Derek took one last look at it, standing in the doorway. The rush of relief he had gotten when he had first rented out the apartment was a distant memory, now, tarnished by everything that had happened in here. Kira’s small hand on his forearm jolted him out of his thoughts, and when he glanced at her, her expression was serious, no trace of pity in her eyes.

            He took a deep breath, and said, “Let’s go.”

*

            The drive to his new house was short, and as he pulled into the drive-way, Kira gasped.

            “Derek, this house looks like a freaking _castle,_ ” she said, awestruck. He grinned down at his steering wheel, gratified at her reaction. He’d stumbled upon the house on accident, out on a run around the preserve, and the first time he had walked up the trail that led up to the backyard of the house, he had had almost exactly the same reaction. When he’d seen the for sale sign, he had known, immediately, that this was the perfect house for his little pack, for when Cora came back from Argentina with Boyd and Erica.

            “I am going to come over here all the time,” Kira announced, as they started moving in the cartons to the living room. “I mean, only if you’re okay with it, of course, but if you are, I would love to chill here. I’m sure you’d be an excellent study partner.”

            “Sure,” Derek said. He wasn’t sure how long she’d want to stay once she found out how much he wasn’t an excellent partner in anything, but he’d take her enthusiasm for now. He gave her a quick tour of the still mostly unfurnished house, the four bedrooms and the airy kitchen and the little attic upstairs that could only be reached by pulling down a trapdoor in a certain manner. She bounced along next to him, even more excited than the first time he’d explored the house, gushing over the large windows and the high ceilings and anything else she could spot.

            Once the tour was over and the boxes had been all brought in, if not unpacked yet, Kira grabbed his hand and without hesitating, dragged him out the huge backyard that had drawn him in. It bordered the western edge of the Preserve, almost exactly opposite of where the old house had been, and the grass there smelled fresh and green, the trees lining the edges tall and lush.

            “Alright,” Kira said, when they were standing in the middle of the yard. “I want you to show me how to do that backflip you did that other day, it was so cool, I’ve never seen anything like that outside of like, gymnastics competitions.”

            Derek tried his best to not puff up with pride. He’d been in gymnastics before, had loved jumping and flipping in the air, the sensation of almost-flying. He’d mostly given it up, but some things never really left you, and this was one of them.

            “You really want to learn?” he asked, just to make sure. “It really isn’t that practical in a real fight.”

            “I don’t care about real fights right now,” Kira said, dismissive. “I just want to see what I can _do_. Did you know, the other day I found out I could jump almost twice the length of my dad’s car? I am literally like a superhero now, so c’mon Derek, you have to show me.”

            Her puppy-eyes were really potent, Derek thought, and shrugged off his jacket, laying it down on the grass carefully.

            “Alright,” he said, and Kira bounced on the balls of her feat, watching him eagerly. He stepped back a little, and then ran and jumped, the air whistling past his ears. He landed in a neat crouch, Kira cheered behind him, her heartbeat hammering away, and before he knew it, she had tackled him and had him sprawled out on the grass, his heart thudding in his chest.

            “Oh my god, Derek, that was awesome! That landing was perfect! I want to learn, too, show me how to do it—”

            Derek managed to not look surprised at his own laughter, and walked her through the process of doing a simple backflip, nothing too fancy. Once Kira got it, and managed to do three in a row without flubbing the landing, he rolled his shoulders and grinned at her.

            “Want to learn a flashier one?” he asked. “This one’s just the beginning.”

            “ _Yes,_ ” she said, and he pulled out all the stops, digging out all the memories he had of practicing in the backyard of his old house, convincing his mom to let him jump on the trampoline and get even higher, putting in every twist and spiral he could think of in one jump. By the time the sun was setting over the horizon, they were both sweaty and giggly, grass stains on his jeans and on her leggings.

            They sat together on the steps on the back porch, afterwards, gulping down water, and Derek sneaked a glance at her out of the corner of his eye and wished, suddenly, that she would stay, even after she inevitably found out what a disaster he was. He hadn’t had this much uncomplicated fun in ages, pushing his abilities to their limits and not having to hide it, for once, and not having to worry about the usefulness of a move in a battle, and he wanted it to continue.

*

            Of course, even though the Nemeton was quiet and nothing supernatural had ventured into the territory for a while, there were still the occasional mishaps. One day, a week or so after the first vist, Kira came to the house without any of her usual excited chatter. They’d been meeting up almost every day, and Derek wasn’t used to seeing her quiet and withdrawn. When he got closer, though, he realized she smelled of Allison and the hospital, and the associated scents of Scott, Stiles, and Lydia, and the pieces started falling together. Allison was still recuperating from her stab wound, and from what Derek had managed to gather, Scott and the other two were a constant presence at her bedside, only leaving for school and parental obligations.           

            Since Derek was not qualified, at all, to give any romantic advice, he offered the next best thing: an acrobatics session. Kira cheered up marginally at the prospect, and so they went out to the backyard and settled into their usual positions. All the jumping about and tumbling usually was a great stress reliever, but Kira messed up her landings several times, getting more and more frustrated each time. Derek’s attempts to encourage her while not sounding patronizing became less effective, until Kira messed up the first jump they’d ever done together, yelled angrily, and shorted out all the light bulbs in the house with an audible pop, the fox aura around her flaring bright yellow.

            Derek stared at her as her aura faded and the smell of lightning dissipated. At least she looked more relaxed now.

            “Oops,” Kira said, after a pause. “I can pay for the damages?”

            Despite himself, Derek snorted, and said, “It’s fine. Did I ever tell you about the time I lost control and nearly ripped apart my dad’s vegetable garden?” At Kira’s head shake, he gestured for her to sit down, and said, “Well, one day, Laura and my older brother Eric started tag-teaming me…”

*

            A few days later, Kira came over with her backpack and a contrite look on her face.

            “Sorry, I can’t practice today, I know you wanted to show me that mid-air double-twist thing,” she said, mouth downturned. “I have a problem set for Bio, and a paragraph to write for Spanish, and I know if I don’t do it right now I’ll be up at midnight trying to finish it.”

            Derek pushed down the curl of disappointment in his chest, let Kira in, and asked, “Who’s your Bio teacher?”

            “Um, Mr. Stevens, why?” Kira paused in the middle of placing her supplies – laptop, a thin blue folder, a pencil case – on the one table he had that he’d bought from a shady guy from Craigslist, and looked quizzically at him.

            “Well, he probably still uses the same worksheets he assigned when I was in high school with him,” he said. “Also, I took Spanish in college, so I can probably help you out with that, too.”

            “You are the absolute best,” Kira said, without any stutter in her heartbeat. “And when I’m done with this, you can definitely show me that double twist.”

            And so that was what they did. Kira was a fast worker, hands occasionally twitching towards her phone or to open a new tab on her laptop, but she’d go back to her work as soon as Derek lowered his book and looked at her, his best big brother expression on his face (he learned it from Laura’s “I’m watching you” face). He checked over her work when she was done, and afterwards, they went out to the backyard, and Kira mastered the mid-air double-twist thing with ease.

            Before she left, she gave Derek a giant hug, and his heart stuttered in his chest. He hadn’t had much close contact with anyone since he’d left Argentina, and hugging Kira made some of the tension he’d been harboring ever since then vanish, muscles relaxing. He hugged her back, and when she finally released him and bounded away, he had a smile on his face that refused to leave for the rest of the day.

            After that day, Kira coming over to do her homework before they horsed around in the backyard became a routine thing. She started bringing over snacks her dad had made, too, and in return Derek had started cooking again, pulling out half-remembered recipes from his mother’s giant cookbook.

            In between problem sets and impractical acrobatics, Derek also started acquiring more furniture. It started with Kira telling him that he really needed a couch, and that the Craigslist table looked like it was going to fall apart any second. They made a trip out to Ikea, and they squabbled about almost everything – the couch, the dining table, even the curtains. Derek took pictures and sent them to Cora for a third opinion, and to his dismay, she agreed with Kira more often than not.

 _sorry bro, but you have shit taste and you’ve been outvoted_ , Cora texted him, and Derek rolled his eyes but eventually ended up buying Kira and Cora’s choice anyway. Occasionally, whenever the reception on her end was particularly good, Cora sent pictures of wherever they were at the moment. Derek saved all the photos – a selfie of the three of them, Boyd soaking wet and grumpy after falling into a lake, Erica standing triumphant on top of a small mountain, arms raised up to the sky. He showed some of them to Kira, too, along with anecdotes from the time he spent in Argentina with them, and Kira said, sincerely, that she would love to meet them. Derek smiled, and felt the first small beginnings of a new pack bond reach out towards her, the fox aura around her already perking its ears up.

*

            Three weeks later, when Cora, Boyd, and Erica finally made it back to Beacon Hills, tired and bedraggled, the house was furnished, warm and cozy. The walls in the living room were blue, and the couch was leather and tried to suck you in whenever you sat on it, and the TV was already hooked up to the Wii Kira had brought over from her house. The kitchen was sunny yellow, and the fridge was stocked with food. Derek’s room was the same shade of green as the leaves of the oldest trees in the preserve (‘okay, yes,’ Kira had said, once he’d shown her the trees he was talking about, ‘but that is also the exact color of green of your eyes and it’s amazing,’ and then she’d jumped on his back and made him give her a piggy-back ride to the house), and the dark wood bookshelves were filled with books. The other three bedrooms were still unpainted, but there were cans of paint in every color of the rainbow sitting in the basement, waiting to be chosen.

            When Cora rang the bell, Kira had jumped up from where she and Derek had been sitting on the swing in the back porch, absorbed in their respective games, almost knocked her glass of grape juice over, and yelled, “Race you!” as she ran into the house. Derek followed at a more sedate pace, the bonds connecting him to the rest of the pack settling into his chest, content that everyone was finally in the same place again.

            When he got there, Kira was hugging Cora, and Cora’s shell-shocked expression may or may not have made Derek snort a little inside. Cora’s arms had instinctually gone around Kira, and as Kira pulled back, still rambling about how much better her interior decorating taste was than Derek’s, and how excited she was to finally meet the rest of his pack, Cora’s face smoothened out into amusement. As Derek made eye contact with both Boyd and Erica, hanging back a little, and took in the look in Erica’s eyes that meant she was holding back giggles, and the bemused quirk of Boyd’s mouth, he just knew that Kira would fit in perfectly with them.

            He gave into instinct and gathered up both Kira and Cora into a hug, gesturing Boyd and Erica in too, and something warm unfurled in his chest. He was finally, truly, happy.


End file.
